Pultrusion of large thermoplastic composite profiles up to Ø 40 mm from glass-fibre/PET commingled yarns

Abstract Pultrusion is a rapid and cost-effective manufacturing technology for continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic composite profiles. As the cross-sections of pultruded profiles grow to meet increasing performance requirements, manufacturing challenges concerning heat transfer are encountered. In this study, a two dimensional finite element model was used to simulate the heat transfer and fluid flow physics of the pultrusion process for increasing diameters from O 5 – O 40 mm. To facilitate the experimental validation, a novel batch-wise pultrusion concept is introduced in which the impregnation process is observed in-situ using a transparent die. The pultrusion studies, conducted on glass-fibre/amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (GF/PET) commingled yarns, show that- with proper design- pultrusion is able to deliver consistent, high quality (void content